Woman with autism returns home after changing name and fleeing to India to be with boyfriend

A 24-year-old autistic woman who changed her name and flew to India to be with her boyfriend has reportedly returned home.

Jessica Doody, 24, changed her name, got a new passport and travelled to the Southeastern Punjab city of Patiala last month to live with her boyfriend, Gurdeep Singh, aka Garry Anttal.

A Facebook post by family member Sarah Doody says Jessica has returned home, Star.kiwi reports.

The post says Jessica is "a bit upset" but that she will have "heaps of support over the next few weeks/months".

Bridget Gray (left) and daughter Jessica Doody (right). Photo / Supplied

Previously, her family feared for her safety, saying she has the mental capacity of a young teenager and is naïve and vulnerable to manipulation.

Five agencies, including Interpol, were involved in the hunt for Doody.

Her father Craig Doody, a broker from Christchurch, flew to India to search for her.

On Thursday, local police officers visited his hotel to say his daughter had been found.

He was allowed a short meeting with her at a Patiala police station where Jessica told her father she wanted nothing to do with him and that she was happy in India. She said she was being well cared for and had been living at Singh's parents' home.

After the brief encounter, Craig Doody was told by police that he must leave the city. The next day, he was forced to make a seven-hour bus journey back to New Delhi.

Doody's family feared she has been "brainwashed" and were worried for her safety.

Doody flew to northern India via Guangzhou on March 16, travelling as Kathleen Gray-Anttal, to be reunited with her boyfriend, Gurdeep Singh, aka Garry Anttal. She had fallen $50,000 into debt when she was with her boyfriend in New Zealand.

Jessica Doody travelled to meet boyfriend Gurdeep Singh (both pictured here) in India last month. Photo / Supplied

Craig Doody described his emotional reunion with his daughter at a police station, flanked by the police commissioner, about 10 other officers, and Singh. He was only allowed to see her after promising he wouldn't get violent with her. His cellphone was confiscated when he tried to photograph her.

"I was allowed to ask her five questions and she just said she was staying in India and that she totally hated the family," Craig Doody told the Herald from his Patiala hotel room.

"I was blown away. I said, 'Jess, why are you saying this? I've flown halfway around the world for you'.

"It was pretty horrendous. She's been brainwashed and I think she has been groomed. She's madly in love with this guy and can't see what's happening to her."

Singh left New Zealand on December 17 last year, Immigration New Zealand (INZ) confirmed.

Doody's Christchurch family said the naive, innocent woman, who is on the autism spectrum and suffers from dyspraxia, would have been terrified without her support network.

They were so concerned she would leave for India that they had earlier succeeded in getting a court-imposed travel ban on her original passport.

Jessica Doody (left, with her sister Sarah Doody, right). Photo / Supplied

After the family filed a missing persons report last month, New Zealand police told them last Wednesday that Doody had left the country and was in India.

Doody's phone was switched off and her Facebook account disabled.

Doody met Singh in Christchurch two years ago, her family says. They soon entered into a relationship and after a fortnight had moved in together.

Singh variously worked in a fast-food pizza outlet, as a courier and delivery driver.

"At the start of the relationship, Garry told her he was a billionaire and that Maroon 5 would play at their wedding," says elder sister Sarah Doody, 26.

"Jessica believed in this amazing fantasy life they would have and became very isolated from us and was soon racking up debt."

Doody, who worked as a hotel cleaner, bought two cars and covered the couple's rent, her family say.

When Singh asked Doody to travel to India with him for a holiday, her family rejected the idea. They wanted a family member to accompany Doody, who takes antidepressants, seizure medication and mood stabilisers, and suffers from irritable bowel syndrome.

Eventually, they got a court-imposed travel ban to block Doody from leaving the country.

The family of autistic Christchurch woman Jessica Doody feared for her safety after she travelled to India to meet her boyfriend and then disappeared. Photo / Supplied

They also started the legal process to gain power of attorney and property rights over Doody, worried that she was getting into financial strife.

When Singh left New Zealand last December, Doody was distraught.

She cut ties with her family before her father found her at an ex-boyfriend's house where she had suitcases packed and "ready to go".

"We couldn't do anything as she is an adult," Sarah said.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade says it is providing consular assistance to Doody's family.

But a spokeswoman said that "due to privacy considerations, we are unable to provide further information".

Likewise, both the Department of Internal Affairs and Customs refused to comment, also citing privacy reasons.

The NZ Herald is in the process of contacting the family for further comment about her return.

- additional reporting Star.kiwi